
THANKSGIVING SERMON 



ON THE 



P1EP1TIJ1TI OF TIB IJNIO 




OF THE UNITED STATES, 



By Rev. James P. Wilson, D. I)., 



AT THE 



CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, N. L. 



ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12th, 1850. 



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PHILADELPHIA: 

HUGHES & TAYLOR, PRINTERS, No. 84 NORTH THIRD STREET 



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THANKSGIVING SERMON 



ON THE 



PMOTTUETf OF Til TJNIO: 



OF THE UNITED STATES, 



By Rev. James P. Wilson, D. D., 



AT THE 



CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, N. L., 



ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12th, 1850. 



f3ubltsl)rir bt) % (Untstccs. 
PHILADELPHIA: 

HUGHES & TAYLOR, PRINTERS, No. 84 NORTH THIRD STREET 

18 51- 



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s 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



Trustees Room, C. P. Church, N. L., \ 
December 14, 1851. J 

Rev. James P. Wilson, D. D., 

Dear Sir:— The undersigned, Elders and Trustees of the Central Presbyterian Church N L 
having listened to the Sermon preached by yourself on Thank ,gi T ing day in this place believe 
that its general dissemination would be productive of a great public good, respectfully solicit 
a copy of it for pub licatiou. 

Very truly Yours, 

John A. Stewart, Robert M. Foust, 

Samuel T. Bodlne, b . t>. StewarT; 

Isaac Ashmead, Alexander H. Campbell, 

Henry Davis, EunD D Tarr> 

W. Sanderson, William P. Erhardt. 



December 16, 1850. 
To Messrs Alexander H. Campbell, Elihu D. Tarr, William P. Erhardt, Henry Davis, William San- 
derson, R. M. Foust, John A. Stewart, B. D. Stewart, S. T. Bodinc, Isaac Ashmead, Elders and 
Trustees of the Central Presbyteriau Church, N. L., 

Gentlemen: 

The Sermon is at your service, if in your judgment, the publication of it may 
do good. The expression of your wishes is sufficient reason for entire acquiescence on my part. 

Very Respectfully Yours, 

JAMES P. WILSON. 



ADVERTISEMENT, 



It is proper to state, that this Sermon was written in the discharge of ordinary duty, without 
any view to publication. This remark, however, is intended as an apology for the rhetoric, not 
for the sentiments. Most of the thoughts under the head of Political Integrity, will be found 
in an article on « Political Rectitude" in the Biblical Repository, 1846, and perhaps every thing 
else in the Sermon may be found somewhere, as there is not much that is new or original under 
the sun. Few persons, in these stirring times, sit down to read a published Sermon. To those 
who have the resolution to attempt it in this instance, the author would say, that the subject is 
an important one, and he hopes they may be profited J. p. w. 



THANKSGIVING SERMON 



1 Kings, iv., 25. '■ And Judah and Tsrael dwelt safely, every man under bis vine and under 
bis fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all tbe days of Solomon." 

This is a picture of a happy condition of society, the effect 
of a righteous government, peace, order, harmony, every -where, 
the result of good laws, and of popular confidence in the integ- 
rity and uprightness of rulers. It may form a fit introduction, 
to the subject proposed for consideration to day, — the perpetuity 
of the Union of these United States. 

The feelings of the heart are best excited, in immediate 
view of the proper objects. It is by presenting the object, 
that the relative emotion can be distinctly and strongly called 
forth, and be made operative and available for good. There 
cannot, therefore, be a topic more timely, or better suited to 
the occasion that has brought us together. 

This is a day of Thanksgiving, not for private, individual, 
or family benefits, but for those that we enjoy, in common with 
the great mass of our fellow citizens — privileges of a more ex- 
tended character and of wider diffusion. The clay is designed to 
bring these great general blessings, in which Ave all alike partici- 
pate, up for review, that with them may come up also, the 
great tie of a common brotherhood, the relative obligation of 
devout gratitude and thankfulness, and the evidence of a proper 
appreciation of them, by a course of conduct likely to secure 
their continuance. Private griefs and sorrows have no place 
in the general thankfulness. They should all pass out of view, 
and be forgotten. This is not the occasion, nor the day for 
them. 

It is a beautiful sight to see a whole people laying aside by 
common consent their ordinary business, and flocking to the 
sanctuary, to express their thanks to God, publicly to own His 
guidance, and humbly to seek His mercy. Such service is per- 
fectly proper and becoming, and makes its appeal to the relig- 
ious sentiment that exists in all bosoms. It is well, that religion 
should sometimes lay aside her denominational garb, and appear 
in the simple pure vestments of her original creation. All who 
admit a God, or a particular Providence, are bound to the per- 
formance of this duty. If there is a man who owns no obliga- 



tion — feels no gratitude — no emotion of thankfulness in his 
bosom — then he is a practical Atheist, and an unworthy recip- 
ient. 

Private feelings of gratitude, are not enough, something 
more is demanded of us in view of our social relations and 
responsibilities. Here is the source of a vast field of import- 
ant duties, constituting indeed, to some minds, the only evi- 
dence even of Christian character. 

If individual responsibility separate and dissociated, be 
alone judged at the future bar, then, unless we mean to deny 
altogether, that God takes cognizance of communities and so- 
cieties as such, — there must be in moral estimate such a thing 
as national piety or national sin. If then there be national 
piety, there must of necessity, be an open manifestation of it 
in laws and acts of a public nature. 

Personal religion may be "secret. That belongs to individual 
men. But national piety and reverence for the Deity and His 
laws, must be open and manifest. From this it is plain, that 
there is duty and propriety, in the appointment of days of 
public thanksgiving — by a public declaration by the proper au- 
thority, and gatherings together of masses of the people, to 
show in a public manner, their respect for the authority of God, 
and their gratitude for His mercies. 

Any student of history will see full proof of this in the re- 
cords of the past. The annals of the race abound with instan- 
ces of national punishment for national sins. Public expres- 
sions of thanks then, are perfectly proper. 

I. The first topic that I present in connection with the sub- 
ject is the value of the Union. 

To see this, let us briefly glance at our early history, and 
trace the hand of God in the formation and preservation of 
these United States. The inference from such a brief review 
will be strong and convincing. 

Two centuries ago this great confederacy did not exist. The 
whole country was one unbroken forest, interrupted only here 
and there by the bosom of some placid lake, or the pathway of 
some lonely river pursuing its silent course on to the ocean. — 
Over these vast plains the Indian roamed with bow and arrow, 
in pursuit of his game. Along these solitary vallies nothing 
was seen but the smoke of his wigwam by day, or the light of 
his camp-fire by night. On the spot where this beautiful city 
stands, a wilderness grew. Instead of these thronged streets 
and stately edifices and temples of the most High, the hum of 
trade, and the noise of artisans, the silence of death every- 
where prevailed, interrupted only by the yell of the savage and 



the scream of the bird of night. Our noble river, now laden 
with the commerce of the world, and whitened with canvas 
from every clime, then moved in majestic silence down its val- 
ley, and buried in the ocean her abundant waters through un- 
known ages. 

The whole country was divided at that time into north and 
south Virginia, claimed by two companies, one at Plymouth, 
the other at London, under the title of Great Britain, disputed 
only by the States' General of Holland. 

The first settlement was by a company of Englishmen, under 
Sir Walter Raleigh, in South Virginia. To North Virginia 
came the Puritans — weary — harrassed — down-trodden exiles — 
but in their bosoms burned a sacred fire of liberty, that nothing 
could quench but their own heart's blood. 

Before they disembarked from their ships, they had a day of 
thanksgiving, to that God that had conducted them over the 
stormy deep, and on that day formed a compact, that the ma- 
jority should always rule. This was the seed of a representa- 
tive republic, the germ from which this mighty empire has 
sprung — noble fruit from most precious seed. 

Whatever of virtue, religion, knowledge and liberty, is now 
the boast and privilege of our fair inheritance, comes from that 
hardy, noble band, on the cold rocky shores of New England. 

Of their subsequent history, all are well informed, their pri- 
vations, toils, dangers and the sickness that swept away one half 
in a few months — their dreadful war with the Indians, from 
which God delivered them — when every house was a fort, and 
every man a soldier, — terrors and alarms by clay and by night, 
when families bade each other farewell as they retired to repose, 
not knowing that they should ever meet again, — when the 
gun was the constant companion at the plough, by the fireside 
and in the sanctuary. 

Then came another and a harder trial still — the war with the 
mother country. Unnatural though the contest seemed to be, 
yet liberty was dearer to them than all. Strong in the justice 
of their cause, they dissolved allegiance to England, and in- 
voking the arm of God to their help, fearlessly cast themselves 
into the midst of the dark and eventful struggle. God w r as 
with them, and all was well. The veteran legions of the most 
powerful kingdom on earth were poured upon our shores. Our 
fathers sternly closed with them in the death-struggle, and their 
blood flowed like water — the price of our liberties. The 
Lord watched over our birth-right, and saved to us the inherit- 
ance. Surely then, we shall know how to value it. I cannot 
leave this topic more suitably than by quoting the words of 



Washington in his inaugural address : " No people can be 
bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which con- 
ducts the affairs of men, more than the people of the United 
States. Every step by which they have advanced to the char- 
acter of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished 
by some token of providential agency." 

It is of great importance that this thought should be kept 
distinctly before our minds — the goodness of God in all our past 
history. It must be accompanied by a recognition of the claim 
to our grateful acknowledgment and by a supreme trust in 
Him for our future prosperity. 

To appreciate the value of the Union we must look beyond 
our own peculiar interest, and contemplate it in a different and 
more comprehensive connection. This country is the hope of 
the world. The problem of self government is here in process 
of solution, under the happiest auspices — free from all inter- 
vention, untrammelled by the dead past, with its entrenched 
bigotries, — its social enormities, and its traditionary political 
dogmas. The race is clear, and the question may be settled 
conclusively here, if it can be settled anywhere, — and the world 
regards it justly as a final experiment. How solemn the res- 
ponsibility ! how deeply interesting and awful the issue ! The 
fate of the future, in its further progress to liberty of thought 
and action, and to everything that dignifies man, hangs on the 
result. 

This nation is at this moment the cynosure of all eyes, — not 
only of the down-trodden and the oppressed every where, but 
of all who pray for a higher and purer humanity, and they 
watch the result with most intense anxiety. Shall we prove 
incompetent to the trial — faithless to the trust ? Shall the sun 
that has so brightly risen, go down in gloom and darkness and 
blood ? Shall we, degenerate children of noble stock, throw 
up our birth-right — betray the hopes of the human race, and 
instead of the precious boon that was handed to us by our 
fathers, transmit to our children an inheritance, not a blessing 
but a curse? The same bright sun that cheers us shall shine 
over their heads — the same hills and vallies smile — the same 
spring deck the hill sides, the sima glad earth rejoice in her 
fruits and harvests, but in vain, — " all these rich gifts that 
blessed their fathers will be embittered by faction and rent from 
them by unrelenting despotism." 

Who can contemplate this without a shudder? our refuge 
and hope is in God. We must lift our trusting eyes to Him, 
and be united before Him, and around the privileges and prin- 
ciples deposited with us for our children, to keep them in invio- 



lable fidelity. Let no one rebuke the disunionist, or invoke 
upon him the retribution of heaven. Let him be left to the cer- 
tain, but self-inflicted penalties of his own moral position. — 
Let him stand alone undisturbed, himself a monument of the 
security, with which, in this free, happy country, a man may 
utter the most destructive sentiment without danger, while rea- 
son is left free to combat it. Let him stand, and blot out with 
sacrilegious hand the recorded history of the past ; let him be 
recreant to the promise of the glorious future ; let him be a 
traitor if he will, to his country, to his race, to every precious 
human interest, to his God, then let him write his name with his 
deed on the scroll of Time, and let it go down with the names 
of Judas Iscariot and Benedict Arnold, a record for the judg- 
ment of future ages, a beacon like theirs for all generations 
to come. 

II. Let me now turn your attention to the second topic, the 
dangers that beset our happy Union. It is of importance that 
these should be noticed and if possible, clearly presented. 

The first I mention is the want of Political Integrity. 

I mean by Political Integrity " strict probity and honor in 
all State and National policy." This is particularly important 
to the American people. They are characterized by a restless- 
ness — disposition to break away from everything that is old, and 
familiar, and usual. A spirit of innovation marks every plan, 
and purpose, and project. In the eager chase after physical 
gratification, that which ministers to the purer, better nature, 
is likely to be depressed and overlooked. There is an incessant 
whirl, an agitation deep and permanent, more than among any 
other people. To elevate and make conspicuous the great way- 
marks of truth and righteousness all along their path, and to 
turn to them the attention of the crowds that press on in the 
dust and turmoil of their mad pursuit, may not be easy, but it 
is none the less important. 

Now how can government control and direct this, except by 
her moral power ? If she fail here, then where is there any 
other resource, but in military coercion ? The peculiar neces- 
sity of Political Integrity is therefore clearly seen. 

There is no question but the fund of this virtue that we 
brought with us out of the revolution has sensibly deteriorated 
as well as diminished. 

This fact is seen in the characters of the men that are put 
in to fill the innumerable offices throughout the country, and 
in an entire disregard of all moral qualifications as requisites 
for office. Keal worth of character, and real merit are not now 
the essentials for successful political aspiration. The common 



8 

maxim of party also — " to the victors belong the spoils," points 
significantly to a very different code of morals. 

Defect of political integrity too is often strikingly manifest 
in our State and National Legislation. Laws are made for sec- 
tional interests, and not for the general welfare. Men forget 
in the National Council, and in the State Legislatures, that they 
are sent to provide for the good of the whole, and not to limit 
their vision to one little spot where they and their constituents 
live, and their mines and factories are, and their broad acres 
extend, confining their patriotism by lines of latitade and lon- 
gitude and county and state boundaries. 

. There is not unfrequently an utter and entire sacrifice of in- 
dependence among men in our Legislatures, from the highest 
to the lowest. • Before a man becomes a candidate for office, he 
seems to be a man as God made him, independent in his views, 
and in the expression of his sentiments, directed by his own rea- 
son and guided by his own conscience ; but when he is set up 
for office, then he becomes the most weak and contemptible 
thing in the creation, — a perfect automaton turned about just 
as the blessed people choose to pull the strings, a vane on a 
chimney top, very showy and high, but of no use except to tell 
which way the wind blows. It has been said with much truth, 
such a Legislature or Congress ought to sit in some immense 
magnetic telegraph office, and every man hold a wire in his 
hand, to tell him what the dear people, — his constituents, 
think on every question that comes up for decision. 

The same defect of political integrity is seen also in the in- 
fluence on the moral sense, of a division of responsibility. Men 
seem to think, that collective guilt is not to be resolved in mor- 
al judgment into its constituent elements of personal criminali- 
ty. They forget that it is merely the aggregate of individual 
crime. Strange morals truly ! If one man perpetrates an of- 
fence, it is a crime, but two or a dozen or a multitude may do 
it and there is no guilt. If one man steals his neighbor's prop- 
erty, he is a thief; but if he is one of a company for public 
improvements, and borrows money, knowing that there is great 
danger of never being able to pay, and then if this company 
fails and refuses to pay according to its ability, there is no 
moral obliquity. No such ethics as this is found in the Bible. 
No such thing as a shifting scale, or double code of morals, — 
one very strict for individuals the other more lax for commu- 
nities. 

The same defect of integrity is seen in what is well under- 
stood by the cant term "log-rolling" which is nothing less 



than the sacrifice of principle, for success in some partial seer 
tional interest. 

I might find additional evidence of relaxed integrity, in the 
practical maxims of men struggling for political preference, 
such as, "alls fair in politics," which means, that if a man 
holds an office that you covet, you may undermine his 
character and standing, you may asperse his reputation and 
blacken his name to carry your point, and supplant him. 

I need not dwell on this at any greater length. Who does 
not see the application of it to the topic before us, " the per- 
petuity of the Union ?" Where is the moral power of this gov- 
ernment, if confidence in its uprightness and integrity wastes 
away ? And if this bo gone, (resting as this government must, 
on the will of the people,) where is there any power at all, of 
any kind left ? I do not say that this is a weak government— 
not all; on the contrary, I see that it is at this hour, the strongest 
government on earth ; for it is entrenched in the affections of 
the people, and founded on principles, of the truth of which hu- 
man judgment can never change, but here are dissociating, de- 
structive tendencies which need to be watched and constantly 
checked and set right. 

What idea of this government or of any other can there be so 
beautiful, so perfect, as that of a vast and united family, the 
care over them that of a mighty paternity, enlightening by its 
counsels, purifying by its control, elevating by its example. — - 
Every public act and expression, marked by integrity, mag- 
nanimity, and the most delicate sense of honor and virtue, in- 
flexibly just in the administration of law, and at the same time 
every benign good influence flowing forth like the light of the 
sun, looking in on every family and blessing all. 

This is the true idea of a government, like that of the Infinite 
God over his boundless universe of intelligent creatures. If 
each of these united sovereignties in its proper sphere like sep- 
arate instruments in some grand symphony, would send forth 
its strain, and then a deep full diapason in the great central 
mansion of the Great Patriarch of the family, roll forth in per- 
fect and sweetest accordance with their notes coming upon the 
tide of song, from each instrument in the concert, what a flood 
of harmony would swell, and roll, and die away like distant 
thunder in the heavens.* Influences would flow forth among the 
people, conveying and perpetuating every blessing. Who shall 
affix bounds to the genial currents as they expand and over- 
spread the whole surface of the moral waste, refreshing as the 

* Vide the article above referred to in the Bible Repository. 
2 



10 

dews, and vivifying as the sunbeam on creation. With the 
pulpit for its ally, such a tone would be given to morality, and 
such power to its expression, that not only in the Legislative 
Halls, would it be felt, and everywhere where the popular will is 
manifested, but its influence would penetrate every dwelling, 
preside in every family, and control every heart. Such would 
be the moral power of a government characterized by strict 
political integrity, and guided in all its emanations by the be- 
nign spirit of the gospel of Christ. 

Another danger that presents itself on slight observation of 
society, is the Radicalism of the day. 

1 mean radicalism as opposed to conservatism. This spirit 
is and has always manifested itself to be the constant deadly 
foe, not only to civil liberty and human happiness, but also to 
Christianity. Religion and the State, the spiritual and the tem- 
poral, cannot be wholly separated. Many most important ques- 
tions in civil government, inevitably run into the province of 
religion, hence radicals in politics are found classed not unfre- 
quently, with the advocates of infidelity. The moral attitude 
for each extreme is the same. I prove this statement of dangers 
from this quarter, by calling to your minds the history of legis- 
lative effort in this commonwealth, and in some others of the 
States, in relation to oaths, immoralities, the Sabbath, and com- 
mon school education ; add to it, if you choose, the subjects of 
marriage and capital punishment. I may also in this ' connec- 
tion refer to a kindred topic, fraught with great danger, I 
mean individualism. Self appointed lecturers are going 
about haranguing the people, teaching man to look upon himself 
as a unit, to consider himself and his interests apart from society. 
They boast that in this day, man begins to feel his own individ- 
ual importance and must assert his individual rights. Nothing 
can be more pernicious than such statements. The result is to 
dissociate society, to break it up into small companies and frag- 
ments, and insulate its members. The idea is monstrous alike 
in politics, in religion, and in nature. There is no evidence of 
any thing of the kind, in any part of God's vast intelligent crea- 
tion. God alone exists by himself. Government is his divine 
institution for men. Nothing can be more dangerous to the 
perpetuity of this glorious Union than the propagation and. re- 
ception of such disorganizing sentiments. They break up all 
social quiet, by arraying one class in society against another, 
close the avenues of kindly feeling, and pervert or destroy every 
finer human sympathy. They make man the natural foe of 
every fellow man. It is SELFISHNESS in its worst most imprac- 
ticable form. It takes man away from the high dignity of 



11 

organic membership, and makes him a fragment, of what — a 
ruined, disordered, corrupt and corrupting mass. 

These men talk much of the great progress of the age, and of 
our rapid advance, on all the ages that have preceded. If by 
progress be meant, better knowledge of the organic laws of mat- 
ter, and their application to practical human use, and a more 
perfect control of matter itself, then the point is at once admit- 
ted. If it mean, steam, railroads, telegraphs, and abundance 
of school books, newspapers and daguerreotypes, I do not hesi- 
tate still, — not to mention, mesmerism, " mysterious knockings," 
and womens' rights conventions, and other profound follies. But 
are we making great progress in all other respects ? Are we a 
more moral, peaceable people? Are we more law abiding? — 
Are we more rational and less animal now, than in the earlier 
days of our republic ? Are we more disposed than formerly to 
bring great questions up to the eternal rule of right and wrong ? 
Have our elections become purer, less sectional than formerly, 
less liable to the bias of local interests, and are the best and wisest 
men more likely to attain to high office now than formerly ? Or 
is there in fact more political gambling now than ever before ? 
Has the marriage relation been held more sacred, more inviola- 
ble ? Are we less under the influence of cant terms, than form- 
erly ; such terms as "our country," "destiny," "Anglo-Sax- 
onism," and so forth. No more is needed than simply to ask 
the questions. 

We are in no danger in this country, of a union of church and 
State, for the church would herself be the first to repudiate the 
contaminating alliance. Neither are we in danger of an aris- 
tocracy of wealth or birth or rank. The operation of our laws 
releases us from apprehension of these, and we certainly need 
not tremble in anticipation of too great a popular veneration for 
the past. But we are in danger of too much radicalism, too 
much of that which tends to overturn the fundamental princi- 
ples of representation, and constitutional stability, in obedience 
to present opinion, present force, and present demagogueism. 

In opposition to all this I recommend a regard to conserva- 
tism, properly and intelligently understood, conservatism, the 
true friend of safe and rapid progress, but opposed on all points 
to a revolutionary spirit, rising above men's outward forms to 
the higher region of principles and ideas, and for that reason 
is it truly conservative. 

Liberty, in the lips of many is a cant term, expressive only 
of license of the most "unrestricted kind — freedom from all re- 
straint. But with this interpretation of the word, we should 



12 

have the full meaning, only when each man became an Ishmael- 
ite to his fellow. 

It is not the mere right of suffrage, nor freedom of election, 
nor license of the press, for these may enthrone Despots to 
enslave those who clothed them with transient power. 

The most perfect idea of Liberty, is where a man retains in his 
own hands most of his personal rights, and as an equivalent for 
those he has surrendered, receives the greatest amouut of protec- 
tion and security in return. The very term security, implies 
rigid, reciprocal restraint. " It is that sphere of entire rest, with- 
in which a man has most security in following his own wishes, 
and pursuing his own happiness, without any one to impede or 
limit him." That is the best and most perfect of human gov- 
ernments, where a man is under the strongest and best influences 
to discharge all his duties ; and at the same time is restrained 
from all wrongs, and is best protected in all his rights. This 
is a circle within which he may move freely, discharging all 
relative duties to others according to his own conscience, employ- 
ing his affections and his intellect as he pleases, and dispensing 
happiness to all around. Nothing can make him more free but 
the religion of Jesus Christ, for that breaks the chain of evil appe- 
tite and passion and releases him from the slavery within. 

I pass on briefly to notice another topic in considering the 
dangers that may threaten the stability and perpetuity of this 
glorious Union. I mean Political Intolerance. 

This is in its way, as fierce and relentless and uncompromising, 
as religious persecution, with the additional danger of directly 
acting on the machinery of government itself, and of exposing 
to the hazard of disruption, the peace of society. The power 
of a majority is more galling and more intolerable, from the 
very fact of the helplessness of those who are legally bound to 
submit to it. But this spirit of submission and acquiescence so 
essential and so beautiful in our system, may by exultation and 
indecent exhibitions of triumph be sharpened and envenomed 
into faction, and local perhaps personal interests be thrown in, and 
this be followed by retaliation, until all hope of reconciliation is 
forever at an end. 

It should never be forgotten in the exultation of victory, after 
a close and severe contest, and when consequently the opposite 
parties are farther separated by feeling, that difference of opin- 
ion is not difference of principle, that we are all brethren of 
the same principle though called by different names, that we are 
all true republicans, and all equally devoted to the interests and 
prosperity of our common country. 



13 

III. The third part of the subject, is a consideration of the 
•means most conducive to the perpetuity of the Union. 

A consideration of the dangers that have been mentioned, 
naturally suggests corresponding remedies. The nation posses- 
ses a most admirable chart for their guidance in all coming time 
in the legacy bequeathed to them by the Father of his Country 
— "Washington's Farewell Address." There can perhaps be 
no better compound of wise maxims, clear and right principles 
forcibly stated, and rich results of long and abundant experience, 
for the direction of the people of this country in generations to 
come, and all this dictated by long tried affection, and enforced 
by a life of the purest, most patriotic devotion to the interests 
of his country. 

The first and most important certainly, is a ready uniform 
implicit obedience to law. 

It is not wise to say the least, for christian men, and ministers 
of the gospel of peace, to advocate sentiments, and countenance 
•action, that must be disastrous in its results on the peace of 
^o'ciety, and the harmony and union of this great confederacy. 

Every man is amenable for a good conscience before God, 
but no man is at liberty to agitate the question of his solemn 
•duty, faithfully to obey the laws of the government under which 
he lives, and whose protection he enjoys, unless under circum- 
stances very peculiar and very easily definable. The opposite 
principle carried out would neutralize all law in its individual 
'application.. The duty is, quiet, peaceable obedience, until the 
remedy can be applied in a constitutional way, any other course 
is the offspring of a revolutionary spirit — rarely indeed in the 
ordinary course of human events — very rarely to be justified. 
These remarks and principles apply to the law passed at the 
last session of Congress, called " The Fugitive Slave Bill" and 
have been made in reference to that law. Whatever may be 
the justice or injustice of this particular enactment, one thing 
is plain, it was passed by the wisdom of men selected and au- 
thorized to make our laws. Of the circumstances under which 
they discharged their responsibilities we are not competent to 
decide. No man is competent to pass j udgment on the moral acts 
of others. The presumption is, that they acted according 
to the best light they had, and with the sanction of their 
consciences. After all, we are very little more implicated 
in the evil of slavery by this late provision than we have always 
been under the Constitution. The well known clause in that 
noble instrument referring to this subject, was itself introduced 
as a matter of necessity, it was a compromise, without which, in 
all probability, the Union never could have been formed. And 
in the judgment of our representatives, the introduction of the 



14 

present bill was equally necessary to continue the Union in ex- 
istence. If this be so, then the question is an easy one. Is 
this happy Union freighted with the treasures of the past, and 
with all the rich hopes and promise of the future, worth so little, 
that we are ready to sacrifice it and cast it to the winds, for the 
sake of a law, which must from the nature of things be tempor- 
ary ? Let any man sit down coolly, and survey the prospec- 
tive evil of such a course. Let him remember that it is extremely 
doubtful if every infraction of this law, no matter from how 
pure a motive it springs, be not to the hapless object of it, in any 
and every possible result, an utterly mistaken act of humanity; 
and then with all this in view, let him conscientiously strike the 
balance for himself, and act accordingly. Slavery is a great 
curse ; a mighty moral incubus ; it reaches in its influences all 
over the land. We cannot in the North cut ourselves off from 
it, and be entirely separate from participation to some degree, 
it is impossible. Nothing but such a provision, could in the 
opinion of the wisest men, calm the irritation and allay the ex- 
citement, that seemed ready like the Simoon of the Desert, to 
wither every thing before it. Our Southern brethren did not bring 
in this dreadful evil. We are as answerable for its existence orig- 
inally as they are. We are happily released from it. They 
are groaning under its pressure. Let us not unfraternally add 
to the anguish and sorrow of their unfortunate position by oblo- 
quy and reproach and taunts. Let us step forward, as good 
citizens and do our part nobly and cheerfully. Let us not refuse 
to bear a portion of the burden, for the original imposition of 
which we are equally responsible with them. Let us help 
them by our prayers and our deeds, and if need be by our 
treasures. 

The problem of a final prospective remedy for the disease is 
yet on hand, no man has been able to solve it. The question, 
what shall be done with three millions of an alien race in our 
midst, has been asked for a generation past. But no answer 
has been returned.- God in His providence, will doubtless open 
the way, how, we do not yet see ; but the institution of slavery 
is doomed. It must disappear before the increasing light and 
power of the gospel. Let us not hasten too much and outstrip 
•the leading of Divine Providence. The path to the final removal 
•of this great evil, surely cannot be over the ashes of this glorious 
Union, amid the wreck and crash and desolation of the dear- 
est hopes of the world and of ages, and the horror and carnage 
of a fratricidal war. 

The second means I mention is the diffusion of moral light, — 
a Religious Education. In no country, to no people, is educa- 



15 

lion so important as to the people of these United States. Our 
government has no moral inherent conservative power. It rests 
on the will of the people. What the people are, the laws will be. 
If they are good and wise, such will be the character of their 
laws, and the opposite is equally true. Who then can over esti- 
mate the importance of a properly educated mind, for the perpe- 
tuity of our institutions. The exercise of arbitrary power in this 
government for the enforcement of law, is the last resort, and 
only when moral power fails. But be it remembered by every 
American citizen, this last is the strength of a Republic. Force 
belongs to a Despotism. It is a law of matter, not of mind. — 
We have here no body of nobility of ancestral rank and virtue 
to fall back upon for strength and countenance. No established 
church to add to executive mandates the sanction of religious 
awe — nothing of the kind. It is of the deepest interest to us 
that this government should stand impregnable in the enlightened 
preference and moral virtue of the people. In no way can this 
be done but by thorough and universal education, and inculca- 
tion of religious truth and religious principles. 

I pass on to the last means of preserving and perpetuating the 
integrity and blessings of the American Union — Religion. 

This is indeed after all, our only hope — while it turns the eye 
upward on one hand in dependence and faith, to the Great Con- 
troller of human events ; on the other it reveals to man the deep 
seated depravity of his own heart, where is to be found the true 
source of all his disquiet and unhappiness. 

Away with all that philosophy and sentiment and false doc- 
trine, that disguises or perverts the great truth of the depravity 
of the human heart, as the fundamental cardinal truth of politi- 
cal philosophy. Such false teaching sets man to seeking some- 
where but in himself, for the cause of his miseries, and makes 
him impatient of control, restless under restraint, and eager for 
experimental change to remove evils and miseries, that grow in 
his own bosom, which no outward change can reach. 

I have already trespassed too long on your time and attention, 
and here close my remarks. 

My friends, your duty is before you. It is a truth to be deeply 
engraven on the heart of every American citizen never to fade, that 
Enlightened Piety, is the hope of this nation under God. I would 
say in the language of the psalmist, " Israel ! trust thou in the 
Lord." 

This government is a trustee of vast human interests, with 
corresponding responsibilities. Never before to any nation, has 
such a path been opened. In the seventieth year of our age, we 
number more than twenty millions. In seventy years to come 



16 

two hundred millions will be spread over three zones, and over 
eight millions of square miles. The prospect is a grand but sol- 
emn one to our eyes. This mighty nation is on its way to spread 
abroad its families, and carry its institutions and principles and 
civilization over this entire continent, and onward still till the 
returning wave rolls back again and breaks on our Atlantic bor- 
der. There will be moral power accompanying the movement 
sufficient to reform and remould the world, if rightly applied. — 
Shall it be used for that glorious end ? This question is not for 
our children alone to answer, when our heads are beneath the mould 
and the light of more distant stars, and the music of more glo- 
rious spheres is around our dismantled spirits. No! The ques- 
tion belongs to us. The Anglor.Saxon race must fulfil its high 
and holy mission, and give to the world by precept and example 
the type of a loftier, purer faith, and a more expansive philan-. 
throphy. The deep and lasting foundations of righteousness 
must be underneath this nation. Oh ! that " the Spirit of Holi- 
ness, on his way to universal conquest, would engrave his name 
on the living tablets of this nation forever 1" 



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